Yesterday Isaac claimed that he had a cold. It may actually have had some seeds of truth. He sneezed repeatedly and, at one point when he was screaming enthusiastically about something, I caught a glimpse of his throat. It looked a little red. Partly because of this I decided to let him take at least the morning off and come with me to vote. We brought Elias to school, though. Some things that don't mix include long lines, complicated ballots, and toddlers.
At our house, like so many others, we have a mixed marriage. I have tried hard not to corrupt Isaac to my political way of thinking, and to always be respectful when discussing Ben's different opinions. But somehow Isaac has become a devoted Obama supporter. At dinner the other night, he explained to Daddy exactly why he was against John McCain: "Because he's grumpy all the time and he wants to start wars." Exactly!! That about summarizes it. But I swear I did not tell Isaac this. He must have picked it up from his school chums or received it through osmosis. In any case, he and I were both excited to go and cast our vote for Obama.
The thing that surprised me the most is that, upon arrival at the polls with my bright and excited 6-year-old son, any trace of remaining cynicism instantly evaporated. I actually had a lump in my throat as I began to explain the process to him. Our democracy! Our country! And you get to be a part of this historic day! It felt bizarrely moving to be among the shuffling masses. Bureaucratic and yet… electric.
We brought some supplies to get through the line– a godzilla toy, which recently played a starring role destroying a train atop Isaac's birthday cake; and our knitting. Isaac decided a couple days ago to learn to knit and has been carrying around needles and a ball of yarn ever since. He wasn't restless or bored or in any way a nuisance. (Luckily we only had to wait about a half-hour.) I think he was just so happy to be included in this important event, to be the big boy while the little boy couldn't come, and, of course, to have a free day off school. The poll worker with the big name book explained everything to him as she found my listing. Isaac stood at my side peeking over the voting "booth" as I went through all the details. "Mom," he whispered. "This is just a big suitcase." The little table thing with sides that I was using did, upon closer inspection, have a handle. You could fold the whole thing up apparently and carry it off.
The only thing non-glorious about the process was that my ballot kept getting spit out by the optical scanner. The dottering, almost enfeebled poll worker finally gave up and put it in a different slot. "It will have to go to the board of elections," he told me. "Will they hand-count it?" I asked. he shrugged, "Whatever they do."
Humph!! This didn't inspire much confidence! But what could I do? People were piling up behind me. And surely they would tally up mine along with the other spat-out victims'. Right?
Last night we all went to bed before results were in. But this morning when my clock radio turned on, "President-Elect Obama" was being discussed. And Ohio went blue! I'm so proud of it! Isaac was already up and taking a shower with Daddy. When he came in, wet hair plastered to his head, his little wiry body wrapped in a towel, I told him the news. "We have a new president," I said. "Who is it?" he asked. "Obama!" I told him. "Yippee!!" he said, "That's the same one I wanted!'
Me too.
I has been a lovely morning. The weather is simply spectacular. I went for a walk this morning along this stunning gorge. As golden sunlight poured down through yellow leaves, a doe walked across the path right in front of me. She stopped and looked at me with the sun catching her steamy breath. I thought, "This day does not seem real. This day seems miraculous." I stood still and watched her for a few moments, until another doe walked into the frame and they both ran off, their cottony white tails flashing.
Even though I'm back in the real world, at the library, using the public computer, I can't shake the feeling that this day is all a beautiful dream. President Obama. That has a wonderful ring to it, doesn't it?